This weekend’s Der Klassiker, an encounter between Borrusia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, more than lived up to expectations.
It was a thrilling 3-0 win for Bayern with Mario Mandzukic and Kevin Grosskreutz banging heads like mountain goats, Dortmund fans throwing bananas at Manuel Neuer, and the return of Mario Götze to his old stomping grounds—and a match even Joey Barton tweeted he was upset about missing.
Just off to the hospital to get hand set. Gutted to miss Bayern/Dortmund. Hopefully, get back for the boxing. #brokenhand
— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) November 23, 2013
The last time Bayern Munich won against Dortmund in the Bundesliga was back in February 2010. Despite that poor record, Pep Guardiola refused to be intimated. Before the game, he said if his team played with fear and no courage, Dortmund would easily come away with the three points. His message clearly reached die Roten as the squad came away with a victory at the Westfalenstadion. But the late goals and the convincing score line don’t reflect how close the contest actually was.
“We must not exaggerate…It appeared as a clear win, but it was only 1-0 until the 85th minute,” Arjen Robben said.
While Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp said he was indifferent to the goal-scorers, there must have been a sense of pain when Götze opened the score against his former team.
As one German headline read ” Götze pierced BVB’s heart.” Dortmund fans, meanwhile, jeered him every time he touched the ball, although Götze was respectful enough not to celebrate his goal against his former club.
An injury-hit BVB were forced to start a makeshift back four in Kevin Grosskreutz, Manuel Friedrich, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and 21-year-old Erik Durm. The absence of Ilkay Gundogan, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek is worrying, but for most of the game, die Schwarzgelben surprisingly managed to stay close. In the first 30 to 40 minutes, Dortmund even outshot Bayern 4-1 despite a 60 per cent possession for the treble winners.
But here comes BVB’s efficiency problem back into the equation. Not to take away anything from Neuer, who was tremendous in Bayern’s net, but a sense of wastefulness has been a reoccurring problem in crucial matches.
“We had more chances, but goals decide games, and we don’t score them. We’re not focused in our actions,” Dortmund netminder Roman Weidenfeller said.
Dortmund’s conversion rate is disappointing at times, something that has cost them games against Arsenal and Borussia Moenchengladbach. For a team that has the most shots in Europe’s top leagues, being clinical isn’t their strong suit. Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all had chances against Bayern that could have possibly turned the game in Dortmund’s favour.
Klopp of course is limited and the depth of his team isn’t even comparable to Bayern Munich’s. The Dortmund coach hasn’t been able to rest some important players and he just doesn’t have the game changers that Bayern has on the bench. Coping with injuries comes naturally harder for Dortmund than it does for Bayern, who have adapted even with the absences of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Franck Ribery.
Respect between the two teams remains high. Pep has experienced many ‘Clasicos’ against Real Madrid. But he said what makes Dortmund much tougher is that one has to deal with six to seven players than can counter at full speed.
“I have learned that Dortmund are a very good team. In transition they are the best team in the world,” Guardiola offered.
For many, Saturday’s match decided the Bundesliga title race, as Bayern now enjoy a seven-point lead atop the table. While it’s a plausible prediction, it’s still early considering the season hasn’t even reached the half-way point. No doubt Bayern are in cruise control and it’s not far fetched to state they’re possibly heading towards a dynasty, whereas Dortmund’s capaign has been marred by injuries.
It’s not what they expected so early into the campaign. But they’ll have to cope with the loss of Hummel’s playmaking ability and Gundogan’s midfield creativity and pace for now. It’s true that the makeshift defence lacks the ability to connect with the midfield as they scrambled to clear the ball for most of the game, but more importantly, being clinical in front of net is what will win them matches.
For Dortmund, it’s easy to not find satisfaction in their current performances, but then again comparing anything to last year’s success will ultimately appear as a failure. Klopp hasn’t given up hope yet, though.
“I told the team, I’m giving you five minutes to be depressed then we move on. We must think about the next game,” Klopp stated.
Right now, the team’s focus is on their upcoming Champions League encounter versus Napoli. Dortmund can’t fret too much over this loss. A winning mentality in the dressing room is needed now more than ever and with Klopp at the helm that shouldn’t be a problem.
“When we draw the right conclusions from (this) game than we’ll be much stronger on Tuesday,” the Dortmund manager said.
Alima Hotakie is a Toronto-based writer. Follow her on Twitter.